LATEST BROADBAND ADSL NEWS   -   PLEASE READ FIRST 

During the past two years there have been some significant technological and operational changes to the way your Telephone and Broadband ADSL is brought to you and managed.  However, the most important thing to know is that your telephone line must first be checked to see what type of Broadband ADSL is available from a technical viewpoint. Knowing this information we can then advise you on the most suitable package. This has a bearing on the price you will pay. I will try and explain why this is, without being too technical.

The Broadband market in France is very different to the UK. First of all we only have 4 Broadband providers compared with over 50 in the UK. This means there is very little price competition. If you live in a major city or very large town, then equipment might have been added in your local exchange, alongside the France Telecom apparatus by either SFR (Neuf) or Free Telecom, allowing you special lower price tariffs with these companies. This is called ‘Dégroupage Total’. Be very careful as some of these operators offer cheap deals over the phone and Internet, however these lower prices are not applicable to 80% of the population - but of course the salesperson does not tell you this at the time, as they are all on commission and told to make a sale at all costs! So cheap prices are only applicable to less than 20% of the population and are rarely available in rural areas without a compromise of your telephone call quality and reliability.  The principal reason for this is that there is very little money made by Broadband providers in France, apart from customers living in major cities downloading movies etc. At present the ‘pay back’ time in rural areas can be as long as 2 years.

Secondly, the other subject that needs explaining are calls known as ‘VoIP Broadband' calls (Voice Over Internet Protocol). Instead of using your normal telephone line to connect to your local exchange, calls can be routed digitally via the Broadband part of your line. Imagine your telephone line as a dual carriageway, but the Broadband road as being much smaller than the main trunk road i.e. the main landline. These 'VoIP Broadband' calls are very dependent on the quality of the cable between the socket in your house and the local exchange. They are not as reliable as your normal landline, because if your Broadband fails, you will not have a telephone at all and will be unable to make telephone calls. All 3 of the major providers, Orange, Free and SFR supply these types of calls, often without a full France Telecom telephone line, this is why they are cheaper as they pay France Telecom a very reduced rate. In large conurbations with improved technology they can work well as in major cities and occasionally large towns where SFR and Free have put their own special equipment into your local exchange.

Using the Broadband VoIP line for your calls should in principal work well.  In rural areas this is often a different story and is very dependent on the noise figure and the size and length of cable of the line between your house and the local exchange and hence the quality. On past experience, we have always tried to steer customers away from using 'VoIP Broadband' calls, though of course they are cheaper. Yes, it is more expensive to use the full France Telecom landline, but it gives the customer peace of mind, reliability, and a quality of call superior to 'VoIP Broadband' calls. However, we will continue to offer both systems, but advise our customers as to the best system available for their individual line.

All suppliers now insist that you have your telephone calls routed through them – for obvious reasons!  With the demise of Telecom Italia (Alice) earlier this year we are now forced to provide a single operator for all your communications with just ‘One Bill.’  Our partner UKTelecom and ourselves have been working for the past 6 months with SFR Neuf to bring you a new service.  Although connected to SFR Neuf, we are only using their Network – nothing else, which by the way is an excellent Network. We are providing the entire technical backup for you in English through a French Freephone 08 number. Our Technical Support has just been upgraded with the very latest equipment and we are able to test your line and report any failure to the relevant company, thus adding to our efficiency. We are confident that we are able to improve upon our already excellent level of Customer Service and far superior to any of the French operators. All our telephone packages have the availability of showing who has called, answer phone, transfer of calls etc.  The Modem/Router/Wi-Fi box that we supply is the very latest Neufbox, which we have been very impressed with and some of our customers, who are computer experts, have even commented that it has improved the speed and stability of their Broadband ADSL over such names as Netgear and Dlink. 

At the end of this year we shall also be supplying access to the BBC/ITV/CH4/CH5 IPlayers, which of course are not accessible here in France; there will be no charge for access to the IPlayers, when they do come on stream for those that join us during the next few months. We are slightly more expensive than the French operators, because not only are we providing you with a total English technical support, we are also providing packages retaining your full France Telecom line, though you will not be paying France Telecom anything.

With our new packages, including Line Rental, Broadband ADSL and Unlimited landline calls from ourselves and our partner UKTelecom, whilst the line you rent is still owned by France Telecom, we manage everything for you at no extra cost.  So whatever system you have chosen, you will be able to make calls via your normal landline telephone with quality. The same terms and conditions apply as if you were a direct customer of France Telecom.  Incidentally, France Telecom has been outsourcing all line work to private companies for the past 2 years. All operators such as Orange, Free, SFR and ourselves have to use these same companies; however these private companies vary in their efficiency. One of France Telecom’s excuses for delays in repairs of Landlines is that everyone has a mobile phone. We do not agree with this statement.
 
As you will now understand, this is why there are so many different packages and prices, which are dependent on your individual line and the equipment available in your local exchange.

Please fill in the following form and we will check your line without obligation and advise you on the best package.

 Broadband ADSL Packages